Baseball

Neita-Headley breaks ground for baseball diamond at GC Foster

On January 27, 2012, ground was broken by Natalie Neita-Headley, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, with responsibility for sports, for the construction of an international standard baseball diamond at the G.C. Foster College in St Catherine.

The diamond, which it is hoped will spur the growth and development of the sport in the country, is being funded by the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) to the tune of $800,000.

Construction fee waiver

This is $1,035,000 less than it would have originally cost, thanks to a waiver of the fee of construction by United States engineer, Damon van Brocklin, via his firm, Brocklin Homes Inc.

The local leg of the project will be done by local engineer firm Grape Vine Enterprises Limited.

"Today's groundbreaking ceremony is significant as we are not just talking about the investment in the development of another new sport," said Neita-Headley. "We are also expanding the possibilities that sport can offer to the country as an income earner.

"Baseball is the most popular sport in the United States, with star player Alex Rodriquez of the New York Yankees earning an annual salary of US$32,000,000, to be the richest player in the league."

To be completed by Thursday

The diamond, which upon completion is expected to have a length of 380 metres at its ditch - 60 metres more than the minimum requirement - is slated for completion by next week Thursday.

It will then be used by student-athletes and officials of GC Foster in the curriculum as part their degree, associate degree and certificate courses.

It is then hoped that several persons will emerge from their courses with the passion and ability to teach and play the sport at a professional level, thus enabling the sport to catch the imagination of Jamaicans.

"By having a diamond, it means that our students can become trained in the sport, which will lead to a building of the capacity for the growth of the sport," said GC Foster principal, Edward Shakes.

Also attending the ceremony was director of baseball at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS), Donovan Corcho.

"INSPORTS is looking at initially having baseball diamonds in our three counties, and today is the first of such initiatives," said Corcho. "This forms part of our overall plans for the development of the sport, which includes the establishment of primary school leagues after the Easter holidays."

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G.C. Foster College embarked on an initiative to offer support to the community during this time of crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 13, 2020, care packages were distributed to members of the surrounding community who have exhibited a need and would have benefitted from the College’s support over the years. The G.C. Foster College continues to shine as a beacon of light, not only through physical education and sport, but through supporting the community.

It’s clear that the athletics family wants to be ready to speed as soon as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is brought under control. That’s what the promise of late-season meets, locally and internationally, convey to me. The same goes for the possible staging of national championships in August.

As suggested by Sprintec Track Club founder and head coach Maurice Wilson a few weeks ago, it seems that the sport can ill afford to be absent when the coast is clear.

“I don’t think we have the luxury in track and field not to be connecting with the public for almost one year,” Wilson said. “The sport has been losing marketability over a period of time and I believe, in a year where persons are, if I should use the word, sports thirsty, it is an opportune time for us to, later on in the year, have some very competitive matchups, having persons who don’t normally race each other racing each other to generate back the public interest.”

These signals give all the stakeholders some hope. While they wait for a light at the end of this tunnel and daily reports of tragedy and recovery, some plough through cassette tapes and videodiscs and YouTube to get a taste of their favourite sport.

Others have given up and amuse themselves with mathematical brain puzzles.

The only real option is patience. Though there has been steady anti-COVID-19 action in Jamaica and elsewhere, the light at the end of the tunnel could be a way off. Schools have yet to complete the Easter term. The longer they must stay closed, the more it becomes likely that the school year will end many weeks past the usual date early in July.

We’ve already seen the shift of the 2020 Olympic Games into 2021 and it would be great if the world became healthy enough for sport to kick back into gear before the New Year. The reality is that, though we’d all love to have special compact version of the Diamond League and the completion of the English Premier League, any resumption date set now is provisional.

Every energy has to be devoted to keeping everyone healthy.

In the meantime, sport can be used as a powerful beacon of hope. Last weekend, World Athletics posted 10 inspiring stories on its website. One of them detailed the patience and determination of Merlene Ottey to become an individual outdoor World Champion. She made it in 1993 at the World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany. Even there, she faced adversity. She lost the 100m to Olympic champion Gail Devers by a smidgen as both got the same time – 10.82 seconds. Then, she barely held off another Olympic gold medallist, Gwen Torrence, to take the 200m.

She was 33 then, and many thought she should have already put her spikes away. Instead, she persevered and became Jamaica’s first World Champion at 200m, male or female.

Jamaicans everywhere will have to call on Ottey’s determination and discipline to drive this health challenge away. She didn’t give up and neither should we.

This interlude without sport is many things. It’s time to reflect. It’s time to look ahead, to cultivate new habits and to refresh old methods.

It’s definitely not time to give up.

Hubert Lawrence has scrutinised local and international track and field athletics since 1980.

G.C. Foster College is now accepting applications for the Free ICT Technical Support Programme for January 2020. This programme is offered jointly by the Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI) and NCTVET. Participants will be trained and certified to work in the growing BPO Sector.